“IT STRIKES” Again: “A red rash and other souvenirs from my visit to the Lone Star state”

[The following column first appeared in The Londoner in March 2003. You remember when I first wrote about ‘The Bucksnort Cafe’, right? And yes, that was a long time ago but, as you’ll see, my story still stands up... or something. gah]

“A red rash and other souvenirs from my visit to the Lone Star state”

In early March, a few days after visiting with my son in Texas, I noticed a few red spots on the inside of my right arm. I didn’t think much of it as I gave them a hearty and satisfying scratch.

The next day the irritated area was redder, wider, itchier. Several spots and a rash had also appeared on my left arm and leg.

“Stink. I think I’ve got poison ivy,” I muttered to Pat, and we tried to think of any times I had been in contact with plant life while visiting in that southern state.


“I hung around the fire hall and motel room, I rode in the fire truck, I wandered around Harold Brown’s ranch a bit, “ I said. “We went for a long ride around Commerce on Sunday but didn’t get out of the car.”

Pat recalled, “No, you and David pushed a tree off the road.”

“That’s right,” I said. “Remember how most of the tree was covered with vines? Stink! I should have noticed it. These spots are burning.”

“Don’t scratch the blisters,” she said. “Poison ivy will spread.”

We searched the bookshelves in various rooms and found the ‘Reader’s Digest Household Medical Encyclopedia’ and a dusty copy of ‘Home Remedies - What Works” (Thousands of Americans reveal their favorite home-tested cures for everyday health problems!).

Pat read from the Digest, “The rash starts with burning and itching of the skin at the site of contact, followed by watery blisters.”

I said, “I’ve got the burning, the itching, the blisters. Great. I go three for three in something for the first time and it’s poison ivy. Thank-you, Texas.”

“This book says we should ‘launder any clothing that has been contaminated with the sap’. Do you remember what you were wearing during the Sunday ride?” Pat asked.

“Probably jeans and a T-shirt,” I said.

“Which jeans? Your T-shirts have gone through the wash.”

I looked down at the jeans I was wearing.

“These jeans,” I said matter-of-factly.

I had packed one pair for the trip and I was still wearing them. I stripped off my pants and flicked them with my foot into a laundry hamper.

“What are those red bumps on your legs?” Pat asked.

You guessed it.

Shortly after opening the second book I read that Ruby (age 66, from Minnesota) and Pauline (age 84, from Pennsylvania) encouraged folks to bathe with Fels-Naptha soap, “first introduced in Philadelphia in 1894.”


["No Fels-Naptha. Try soap from Canada!"]

We didn’t have any 109 year-old soap in the house so I trotted off to the Valu-Mart in Wortley Village while Pat went to Shoppers for calamine lotion.

I checked the detergent aisle. No luck. I looked for Dial hand soap next because I’d read Dial Corporation bought Fels-Naptha in 1985 and most of the original ingredients remain. No success. Instead I bought two bars of Sunlight, pure soap, made in Canada, “trusted for over 100 years.”

As I paid I asked the cashier if the store ever carried Fels-Naptha.

“Not for years. You could check Quarter Master across the street. I saw something online about Fels-Naptha recently. Poison Ivy?” she asked.

Maybe I wasn’t alone in my misery.

Today, however, I am happy to report that after two days of showering with laundry soap the rash is receding, only a few more blisters have appeared and i smell sunshine fresh.

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